The Pittsburgh Steelers are looking for potentially two starting offensive linemen this offseason; the Baltimore Ravens are looking for three. They traded one starter and lost two others in free agency. Their only holdovers from last season are Ronnie Stanley at left tackle and Tyler Linderbaum at center.
Linderbaum, who is going into his third season in 2024, isn’t overly worried about the turnover, however. He’s confident that the Ravens coaching staff and front office will assemble a talented unit by the start of the season. And he knows they can lean on their experienced starters such as himself.
“Anytime you’re going to have experience under your belt, especially Ronnie [Stanley] has been here quite a bit, we’ve got Pat Mekari, and then I’ve gotten two years under my belt in the organization”, he said, via the team’s website. “We’re going to have guys that are going to have to step up and fill in. I think we have a good group of guys, a good coaching staff to be able to help the younger guys and whoever else we add that’s going to step in and play”.
The Ravens have Joe D’Alessandris as their offensive line coach, who’s going into his seventh season there. In his time and before, they’ve had a history of developing starters and watching them hit free agency.
This offseason is not quite the same because the departing starters signed as free agents. Both guards, Kevin Zeitler and John Simpson, arrived from the outside. They also traded RT Morgan Moses, another outside acquisition, with Stanley and Linderbaum the homegrown talents.
Still, losing nearly 3,000 combined snaps along the offensive line in one fell swoop isn’t easy. While they have some internal options, odds are not all of them will work out. As Linderbaum mentioned, Patrick Mekari has been around for years and could fit at guard or tackle. Daniel Falele is a potential option at right tackle, while 2023 rookie Andrew Vorhees is a really intriguing name. He was a highly-touted prospect last year who tore his ACL at the Combine and subsequently went in the seventh round as a result.
“It’s definitely different, but that’s a part of the business”, Linderbaum said about all the familiar faces gone from the Ravens’ locker room this offseason, particularly in the offensive line room. “Other guys get different opportunities elsewhere, and it’s just a next guy in mentality. We’ve got a good group of young guys that are eager to step in and show what they can do, and I’m excited to see how we build off of that”.
And if we’re being honest, the players they parted with were not elite. Moses is a journeyman type, while Zeitler is near the end of his career, and Simpson punched above his weight. They’ll gladly take the comp pick.
